A barely shimmering pot of poaching chicken will always put a smile on Ed's face. He loves having a big bowl of poached chicken in the refrigerator. Back in 2011, we told you that we consider Poached Chicken a Cook's Treasure. We are going to be our own Friday Link today and direct you to some of the ways to enjoy this basic preparation.
Ed doesn't enjoy cooking, but he'll slice some cooked chicken to top a salad. (He's the household salad maker.) And, he knows that this healthy protein can also be turned into some of his favorite dishes.
Dishes like this Curried Chicken Salad. We don't use mayo, so we look for lighter ways to add moisture and flavor to salads.
If you buy a good quality chicken, poach it carefully, and don't overcook it, you'll have nice, moist chicken meat when you finish. I usually pull it out a tad undercooked and let carryover cooking finish the job. You can use a fast read thermometer
I learned to poach chicken years ago from a chef that hired me to do some design work for him. He treated our staff to a beautiful tray of sandwich makings one day while we worked on one of his projects. I was so impressed with the lovely, moist slices of chicken, that I asked him to teach me to make it, and he did.
Naturally, you can poach a chicken or two in stock and make a very rich chicken soup when the weather outside declares it Chicken Soup Week.
When I do that, I usually pull the chicken from the pot, strip off the meat, and return the bones to enrich the broth. Then, I'll strain the broth, reserve some for future use, and add fresh vegetables to the rest. When the carrots, celery, and onions are tender, I'll add back some of the chicken meat to complete the soup.
This time of year, it really pays to spend one afternoon (preferably a rainy or snowy one) cooking to wind up with food in your refrigerator and freezer that will help get you through a busy week.
What's on your Food Lover's shopping list? Shop Amazon for all your kitchen & dining needs and support this site!
Details:
Words: Penny Cherubino
Photos: ©2008-2014 Penny & Ed Cherubino
from here to support this site!
and 
as a waste can for our coffee grounds. Unlike the open 
to clean the spent grounds out of the 
. Here are a few posts featuring that hard working kitchen favorite –
. It was originally meant for windshields but works great on a smooth top stove. Notice that you can buy these by the dozen if you choose. That's because you may want to give one to every friend who has a car or a smooth top!
side-by-side at our kitchen sink – one for hand soap, one for dish soap. We have another in the bathroom. They are the best we've found. The suction cup holds it in place and it leans out over the sink so you are not cleaning up soap drips on the counter.
and the lightweight set is 
. We plan to do an upcoming post on all the ways we use these. But, we don't really cut on them at all. We use them to contain messes. We'll peel vegetables, sweep off counters, and put them under the porta-filter for our espresso machine as we fill it. And, we even use them as placemats to protect our furniture and the large cutting board that sits on our kitchen counter.
are on that big wood cutting board. They make it non-slip and easy to dry while sitting on the counter.
, Author Douglass Shand-Tucci writes that Architect, 
by Gabrielle Redner was a pleasure to have had around during the summer farmers' market season. And, as the days grow colder, I'm thrilled to have this book to remind me of the warm September days we have spent on Martha's Vineyard. 
and 
.
by Boston Globe TV critic Matthew Gilbert was a hit with me and with many of my dog loving friends. Matthew was not a dog person until his husband convinced him that they needed a dog in their life. And, he was not much of a people person until he became part of the community at a dog park. The book is a tale of the transition and what he describes as, “… the strange, wonderful, neurotic, and eccentric dog people who gather daily at Amory Park, overlooking Boston.”
by Benoit Denizet-Lewis is a most enjoyable travelogue of the author’s four month trip across this country with his Labrador Retriever. 
by science historian Laurel Braitman. 
(most appropriate for this time of year), next the 
, and then 
.
.
from the late Massachusetts resident Lilian Jackson Braun. These books and some of the others mentioned here are available in various formats: hardcover, paperback, ebook, and audiobook.